How can I be useful, of what service can I be? There is something inside me, what can it be?
Vincent Van GoghRead
And when I read, and really I do not read so much, only a few authors, - a few men that I discovered by accident - I do this because they look at things in a broader, milder and more affectionate way than I do, and because they know life better, so that I can learn from them.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Reading allows us to gain broader perspectives and learn from those who understand life better.
In this quote, Vincent Van Gogh expresses his appreciation for the authors he reads, stating that their broader and more affectionate perspectives on life provide him with valuable lessons. He acknowledges that by engaging with the thoughts of a few carefully chosen writers, he can enrich his own understanding of the world and learn to view it from a different, more compassionate angle.
Themes
ReadingPerspectivesLearningLifeAuthors
In practice
Example use cases
In a book club discussion, I might use this quote to emphasize the importance of diverse perspectives in literature.
More from Vincent Van Gogh
All quotes →Describing Starry Night: Firmament and planets both disappeared, but the mighty breath which gives life to all things and in which all is bound up remained.
Vincent Van GoghRead
To express a marriage of two complementary colors, their mingling and their opposition, the mysterious vibrations of kindred tones.
Vincent Van GoghRead
Great things do not just happen by impulse, _x000D_ but as a succession of small things linked together.
Vincent Van GoghRead
The world concerns me only in so far as I have a certain debt and duty to it, because I have lived in it for thirty years and owe to it to leave behind some souvenir in the shape of drawings and paintings – not done to please any particular movement, but within which a genuine human sentiment is expressed.
Vincent Van GoghRead
To believe in God for me is to feel that there is a God, not a dead one, or a stuffed one, who with irresistible force urges us towards more loving.
Vincent Van GoghRead
Similar quotes
Repressed anger becomes a temporary madness. Something happens which is beyond your control. If you could have controlled, you would have controlled it still -- but suddenly it was overflowing. Suddenly it was beyond you. You couldn't do anything, you felt helpless -- and it came out. Such a person may not be angry, but he moves and lives in anger.
RajneeshRead
Don’t let any emotional thought concerning success or failure, fame or gain, overtake you, and don’t dwell upon them. Give up your personal shortcomings, such as foolish talk, distracting activities, and absentmindedness. Train in being totally gentle in all physical, verbal, or mental activities. Don’t ponder the flaws of others; think instead of their good sides.
Tulku Urgyen RinpocheRead
The seeker says, "I do not know." That takes honesty. The master says, "I do not know." That takes a mystic's mind that knows things through non-knowing. The disciple says, "I know." That takes ignorance, in the form of borrowed knowledge.
Anthony De MelloRead
The serpent, the king, the tiger, the stinging wasp, the small child, the dog owned by other people, and the fool: these seven ought not to be awakened from sleep.
ChanakyaRead
Prosperity tries the souls even of the wise.
SallustRead
Perfection belongs to the Gods; the most _x000D_ we can hope for is excellence.
Carl JungRead